We are just past the midpoint of the term, so this provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the year has progressed thus far. Sometimes we get caught up in the day to day, that we forget to stop and appreciate all that’s been achieved. What have been the successes for your child?

INTERIM REPORTS

I take this opportunity to remind parents/guardians that interim reports will be available next week. This will provide an insight as to how your child has commenced the year and will also serve as a conversation starter for student parent teacher interviews scheduled for Thursday 27^th March. This day will be a hybrid model with onsite face to face interviews during the day, 11:00am-3:30pm, and online interviews in the evening, 4:30pm–7:00pm. Further details to be provided closer to the day via Compass.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing commences next week for students in Year 7 and 9. All NAPLAN testing is online; our IT team and staff have been working with students to ensure individual devices are properly set up to enable access to the testing. We remind families to fully charge devices each night in readiness for the testing which will run from Wednesday 12^th March to Monday 17^th March.

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

At the time of writing, we were preparing for the annual swimming carnival. I am sure it will be a great success, with terrific weather forecast. I’ll provide an update as to which house was the most successful in the next issue.

CHESS CLUB

Mr Jerome Love has kindly offered his services to run our Chess club this year. This runs every Friday in the college library, and he is keen to start interschool competitions. If your child has an interest in Chess encourage them to pop into the library, every Friday during lunch.

SCHOOL COUNCIL PARENT VACANCIES

One final reminder that we still have a couple of parent vacancies for School Council. If you are interested, please call or email the college and ask for Ms Judith Wright.

YEAR 7 PARENT EVENING

It was great to see and talk to parents and carers at the Year 7 parent night yesterday. Success at secondary school is made easier when we work in partnership, and this is formed by having open and clear communication over the journey. We take pride in providing a safe and supportive learning environment for your children and, our Year 7 team work cohesively to support students to transition into secondary school in a seamless manner. I would like to acknowledge the Junior School team for their work which started in Term 4 last year. They are superbly led by Ms Snow, Assistant Principal in charge, and overseen by Mr Ben Derks (Junior School Leader), Ms Janti Kumar (Year 7 Coordinator) and Mr Mitchell Waugh (Year 7 Assistant Coordinator). Finally, a big well done to our school captains Delcine Li and Hugo Bliss for commencing proceedings and to both Jett Edwards and Poppy Esenyel, two wonderful Year 7 leaders, for sharing their Year 7 journey thus far.

Arthur Soumalias

PRINCIPAL

School Policies have been updated in line with Department of Education and Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority requirements. Parents may review these on the school websitehttps://www.rosehillsc.vic.edu.au/under Our School > Policies > Minimum Standards Compliance – June 2022.

We recently welcomed Digital Thumbprint to deliver their workshops to our VM Year 11 students. Our facilitator Dom delivered a program which was fun, engaging and interactive. These workshops were designed to empower and inform students about the advantages of having a positive online presence and arm them with the vital information they need to stay safe online.

• The first workshop was on the topic of Digital Discernment. Social media has the power to influence society, and our friends for the better. However, students were warned to explore online content and to not take everything at face value. Everyone could easily be the victim of broken messages, gossip, rumours and click-bait. Students were shown how to report harmful content and practice discernment to stay safe and informed online.
• The second workshop, Digital Identity focused on the importance of your digital profile for future success. This workshop gave students the opportunity to examine their social media profiles and posts through the lens an employer applies in the process of hiring and during employment. Social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have given many organisations a new hiring tool. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 80% of employers check out applicants’ profiles as part of their screening process, and 54% have rejected applicants because of what they found on social media.

Students were encouraged to be mindful of the information they share with the “world”. Dom suggested that they regularly Google themselves, check privacy settings and avoid posting anything they’d rather the world didn’t see. That way they will be secure in the knowledge that employers won’t see anything embarrassing or difficult to explain.

Overall, the presentation proved to be a highly beneficial experience for our students. Hopefully, they will be responsible and proactive members of our online community.

Vicki Handris

VCE VM LEADER

On Wednesday, 19th February, the Year 7-11 Student Leadership teams participated in a Student Leadership Planning Day. An entire day of learning dedicated to expressing their voice and improving their leadership skills.

First, the 2024 School Captains Claudia Bradilovich and Evan McKenna Burke returned to share with the leaders, their experiences as student leaders at Rosehill. Then the students got to split up into some small mixed year level groups to talk about the big issues that face the school community. Questions during this activity included how others view the school, what we would change in a perfect world, and the best things about being a Rosehill student.

After some delicious morning tea provided by Ms Hart, we participated in a Blue-Sky Thinking activity, where we could suggest any idea to change or improve the school, no matter how crazy or unrealistic it seemed. Mr Rose then shared a story about how any idea could be transformed into a realistic idea with a bit of creativity.

After the lunch break, the Student Leadership teams split up into their year level groups to start planning their year ahead. Each group had to brainstorm and decide on:

• A positive change they’d like to see implemented

• A ‘blue sky’ dream scenario

• A fundraising event

that the Year level would focus on in their Year level leadership meetings in 2025. These ideas were then reported back to all the Student Leaders, including the current Year 12 leadership team and the 2025 School Captains who were able to join us for the afternoon session.

The final session of the day was a “Year level challenge” where the Year 7 and Year 12 Student Leaders teamed up against the Year 8 and Year 9 Student Leaders to create the most detailed planning document for an event in 20 minutes. This activity encouraged different leaders to work together and forced us to reflect on what was needed to be done to successfully run an event, both in the advance, but also during the day.

Participating in the Student Leadership Planning Day was a great experience as a Student Leader. It gave us time to prepare for the year ahead and develop our leadership skills.

Thank you to Mr Rose and Ms Hart for organising and facilitating the session, as well as to former School Captains Claudia Bradilovich and Evan McKenna Burke for returning to Rosehill to share their wisdom.

Student Leadership Planning Day

Written by Gypsy Berketa & Isabelle Dony

Year 8 Student Leaders

As part of the Year 9 program at Rosehill Secondary College, students participate in an Interdisciplinary Studies subject.

This term students have been investigating the concept of ’My Community.’ As part of their assessment, the students will organise a gold coin donation for the out of uniform, food drives, food, and activity stalls (our College carnival) which will be held on Monday 31^st March at lunchtime.

We will also have live entertainment from the Music Department.

The proceeds from this event will be donated to Foodbank Victoria, The Salvation Army and Yooralla Victoria.

We would greatly appreciate your support by donating goods to the college by Friday 4^th April. The following is a guide in what you can donate to Foodbank Victoria:

Thanking you in advance for your support.

Jerome Love

YERA 9 ID COORDINATOR

Do you wish to feel better informed about the online environment your child negotiates in their daily life?

Please join us for an evening with CyberSafety Expert, Susan McLean: Growing Up Online.

Thursday 19^th June 6:00pm

Rosehill Secondary College Auditorium

Rosehill is proud to bring you this educational and empowering session for parents and carers of young people of all ages, presented by CyberSafety Expert, Susan McLean.

The session will cover the positive benefits of technology as well as what parents need to be aware of:

Reality and risk

What are kids doing online?

Online grooming

Cyberbullying

Sharing nudes

Problematic gaming

Exposure to damaging content

Top Tips for parents

There is no charge for this event

Booking details will be advised closer to the date

Please save the date and join us!

The whole-school tuition program provides students with consistent academic support every Wednesday afternoon, ensuring they receive the assistance needed to complete their homework and classwork effectively.

Proven to be highly successful, this enhancement and enrichment initiative supports students of all year levels in strengthening their literacy and numeracy skills while refining their study techniques in preparation for assessments and exams.

This program is easily accessible to students, has no cost incurred, and is effective in improving study skills, results, and the confidence in students to work independently.

We encourage all students to take advantage of this valuable opportunity to develop their skills and achieve their best!

When: Wednesdays 2:30pm – 3:30pm

Where: A3

For further information regarding this enhancement program please contact Ms Sharma on 9337 2488 or email: meena.sharma@education.vic.gov.au

About the School Saving Bonus

The Victorian Government is making life that little bit easier for families by providing a one-off $400 School Saving Bonus.

This support will help cover the cost of school uniforms, textbooks, and school activities like camps, excursions, and sports.

The School Saving Bonus is in addition to existing and continuing means-tested supports for Camps, Sports, and Excursions Fund (CSEF) and the Affordable School Uniforms Program.

School Saving Bonus – Allocating to School activities: (camps, trips, excursions, and incursions)

1. Once you are logged into the school saving bonus online system, please navigate to the school activities section and choose the amount you would like to allocate. This will be transferred in a few days for you to use on events and excursions.
2. You can then use your SSB allocation to pay for excursions and events on compass by selecting to pay via CSEF/Credit in the payment section of the event. We will then be able to see your selected payment method and allocate your funds accordingly.
3. Events will then be marked as paid. All you need to do is provide consent for the event.

Please Note - There is currently a delay between the SSB portal and our school systems, which the Department is working to resolve.

If you do not see the CSEF/credit payment option after a few days, please email the school with the details of the event for which you would like to use this payment method, and we will ensure it is allocated accordingly.

Please see below link which contain the System guide for Parents and carers

School saving bonus system guide for parents and carers 2975

Levena Hayes

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

If you have a current Health Care Card or Pension Card, you may be eligible for the Camps/Sport/Excursions Fund (CSEF) payment. This funding can be used towards excursions, camps and sporting activities that run throughout the year at Rosehill.

If you applied for CSEF in 2024, and are a current student, you do not need to complete an application form unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.

You will only need to submit a new application form in 2025 if any of the following changes occurred:

• New student enrolments
• Change in family circumstances.

Schools can accept and process applications up until the end of term two each year. CSEF payments are made to schools from March onwards.

Application forms are available via the department’s website, at the general office or below. Please complete and return this form to us along with a copy of your valid concession card.

Applications for 2025 will close on 1 July 2025.

Levena Hayes

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE